Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Chandrashekhar Yavarna
Aerospace MBA Delegate, Toulouse Business School, Toulouse,
France and Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore,
India and Sourcing Leader, GE Aviation, Pune, India
ABSTRACT
The manufacturing technologies are undergoing industrial revolution, primarily by
significant advances in additive layer manufacturing (popularly known as 3D Printing)
technologies. Instead of taking material out through conventional processes one builds
desired parts by precisely adding one layer over another. This results in parts that are
lighter, have almost zero wastage and afford flexibility to design parts not possible to
manufacture using conventional technologies. Using this technology, the parts can be
manufactured close to where they are needed and when they are needed. This can have
significant impact on global supply chain operations, inventory control, labor arbitrage
in the manufacturing sector, remanufacturing, and parts management. The technology
significantly impacts the supply chain evolution by means of demand uncertainty,
logistics optimization, increased flexibility, increased responsiveness, and required
inventory reduction for production. Supply chain disintermediation, customer
empowerment, co-creation and mass customization are other benefits. This paper
describes about the technology of additive layer manufacturing and its relevance to
supply chain. It also provides the existing and potential future stakeholders. It provides
the key factors which are influencing the business case of additive layer manufacturing
on aerospace and defense supply chain. It explains the drivers of supply chain
operations in terms of economic factors, resource, raw material, machine, tooling,
quality, scaling, distribution and maintenance support. It also describes the trends on
changes in sourcing & supply chain due to additive layer manufacturing in other
industry sectors. It provides the technical, legal, financial and political implication
assessment. It explains about the competitor footprint and extent of adoption of
technology. It concludes the analysis of the impact of additive layer manufacturing
technologies on aerospace and defense supply chain.
Key words: Additive Layer Manufacturing, Aerospace and Defense, Breakeven
Analysis, Computer Aided Design, 3D Printing, Fused Deposition Modelling, Selective
Laser Sintering, STereoLithography, Supply Chain, SWOT Analysis, Technology
Maturity Curve, Technology Readiness Levels
Cite this Article: K. Narsimlu, Dr. Ardhendu G. Pathak, Prof. Avinash G. Mulky and
Chandrashekhar Yavarna, A Market Analysis On The Impact of Additive Layer
Manufacturing Technologies On Aerospace and Defense Supply Chain. International
Journal of Management, 8(2), 2017, pp. 171187.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/issues.asp?JType=IJM&VType=8&IType=2
1. INTRODUCTION
The manufacturing technologies are undergoing industrial revolution, led primarily by
significant advances in Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM) (popularly known as 3D
Printing, 3DP). The first industrial revolution is the mechanization of the textile industry,
tasking previously done laboriously by hand to the cotton mill. The second industrial revolution
is the moving assembly line to mass production. Now, the third industrial revolution is taking
material out through conventional processes to builds desired parts by precisely adding one
layer over another. This results in parts that are lighter, have almost zero wastage and afford
flexibility to design parts not possible to manufacture using conventional technologies [1].
Using this ALM technology, the parts can be manufactured close to where they are needed
and when they are needed. This can have significant impact on global supply chain operations,
inventory control, labor arbitrage in the manufacturing sector, remanufacturing, and parts
management. The technology significantly impacts the supply chain evolution by means of
demand uncertainty, logistics optimization, increased flexibility, increased responsiveness, and
required inventory reduction for production. Supply chain disintermediation, customer co-
creation, customer empowerment and mass customization are other benefits.
In this paper, sections are organized as follows: Section 1, Introduction. Section 2, The
Impact of Additive Layer Manufacturing Technologies on Aerospace and Defense Supply
Chain. Section 3, Existing and Potential Future Stakeholders in Additive Layer Manufacturing
Technology. Section 4, Key Factors Influencing the Business Case of Additive Layer
Manufacturing Technology on Aerospace and Defense Supply Chain. Section 5, Key Drivers
of Additive Layer Manufacturing Technology on Aerospace and Defense Supply Chain.
Section 6, Trends on Changes in Supply Chain due to Additive Layer Manufacturing
Technology. Section 7, Trends on Changes in Supply Chain due to Additive Layer
Manufacturing Technology in Industry Sectors. Section 8, Case Studies of Additive Layer
Manufacturing Technology on Aerospace and Defense Supply Chain. Section 9, The
Competitor Footprint and Its Extent of Adoption of Additive Layer Manufacturing Technology
in Aerospace and Defense Industry. Section 10, SWOT Analysis and Indicators of Future
Growth. Section 11, Conclusions.
Impact on Aerospace
ALM Technology
Timeline ALM Milestones and Defense Supply
Readiness Levels
Chain
1986 1 Stereolithography (SLA) Rapid Prototyping
Fused Deposition
1989 1.5 Rapid Prototype System
Modeling (FDM)
2004 2 - Component Manufacture
Replication Rapid-
Real-time Spare Parts
2007 3 Prototype Project
Manufacture
(RepRap) Movement
2008 3.5 User Generated Art -
FDM Patent Expires,
2009 3.5 Growth in Consumer -
3DPs
Southampton University
2011 4 - Laser Sintered Aircraft
(SULSA) Prototype
3D System Acquires Z
2012 4.5 - Corp. GE Acquires
Morris Technology
Selective Laser Sintering
2014 4.5 -
(SLS) Patent Expires
Mass Production CFM
2016 5 -
LEAP Engine
2030 6 - Completed Product
2040 6.5 - Completed Product
2050 7 - Completed Product
The ALM technology maturity curve, based on technology readiness levels vs timeline, is
as shown in Fig. 3.
Figure 5 Additive Layer Manufacturing Technology Global Market Size and Forecast [2]
The main advantages of ALM in supply chain are [3], [4]: part costs down to ~50%, market
costs down to ~64%, wastage down to ~10%, weight down to ~64%, and finally part buy to fly
ratio is 1:1, are as shown in Fig. 6.
Table 2 ALM Projection From 2013 to 2023 For The Aerospace and Defense Market [11]
Year Optimistic Pessimistic
2013 250 200
2015 375 225
2017 500 275
2019 750 300
2021 1250 400
2023 2000 500
The ALM projection from 2013 to 2023, especially with further acceptance of ALM
technology for high volume parts in serial production [11], is as shown in Fig. 7.
Figure 7 Additive Layer Manufacturing Technology Projection from 2013 to 2023 for Aerospace and
Defense Market [11]
Figure 12 Additive Layer Manufacturing Technology Aerospace Brackets Joint Strike Fighter Bleed
Air Leak Detect Bracket [17]
Figure 13. Additive Layer Manufacturing Technology Aerospace Propellant Tank - Titanium
Propellant Tank [18]
Figure 14 Additive Layer Manufacturing Technology Aerospace Engine Parts Tejas Kaveri Engine
Parts [19].
Figure 15 Additive Layer Manufacturing Technology Aerospace Fuel Nozzle GE LEAP Jet Engine
Fuel Nozzle [20]
The major implications and challenges of early adopters of ALM technology are [21], [22]:
technical implications, legal issues, financial implications, political issues, government
challenges, supply chain implications, human resource implications, software implications,
dangerous weapons, and security challenges.
Figure 17. Additive Layer Manufacturing Technology Products and Services - Worldwide Revenue
[29]
The ALM technology breakeven analysis [30], is as shown in Fig. 18.
11. CONCLUSIONS
The overall conclusion is that ALM technology offers some strengths as well as weaknesses
and it depends on the specific requirements of whether the weak or strong points outweigh each
other. The strengths of ALM technologies are: reduce cost, save time, sustainability, reduce
waste material, low buy-to-fly ratio, reduce weight, increased supply chain efficiency. The
weaknesses of ALM technologies are: mass production, production speed, high component
costs, material limitations, limited process qualification and certification standards. The
opportunities of ALM technologies are: potential growth market, design flexibility, allowing
customization, new product development, rapid product development and deployment. The
threats of ALM technologies are: copyright problems, intellectual property issues, regional and
country regulations, dangerous weapons and security challenge, unemployment in industries.
At present, North America and Europe are the largest regional market of ALM technology.
Asia-Pacific is the next largest regional market of ALM technology. The expansion and global
distribution of ALM is still in its early stages and will increase over the next few years. Thereby
industrial use will increase in importance and will change or replace whole industries.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The Authors would like to thank Prof. Christophe Benaroya, Aerospace MBA Programme
Director, Toulouse Business School, Toulouse, France and Prof. S. Raghunath, Aerospace
MBA Programme Director, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, India for their
discussions and suggestions. The first author would like to thank Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hakan Kayal,
Aerospace Information Technology, Space Technology, Julius Maximilian University of
Wrzburg, Wrzburg, Germany for his kind support. The first author is an Aerospace MBA
Delegate at Toulouse Business School, Toulouse, France and Indian Institute of Management,
Bangalore, India. The research work of the paper was performed when he was doing an
internship at Airbus Group, Bangalore, India.
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